Vegetarian Tacos with Lentils, Squash and Chard

I’ll admit that vegetarian tacos are not what I usually think about first when someone mentions tacos. Let’s face it…a lot of times vegetarian tacos taste pretty bad. What’s with that faux meat flavor and texture? ICK! These vegetarian tacos are pretty damn tasty. No faux meat in these. A combination of lentils, chard and squash and good ol’ taco seasoning all but ensures even the pickiest eaters will love these.

So I made the ‘mistake’ of mentioning that we were having lentil tacos for dinner at some point during the week and I got the big nose scrunch from the husband. Fast forward a couple of days and he questions me about what we’d be having for dinner that night. This time I call them vegetarian tacos. The response is ‘hmmmm…those could be good.’ Of course the vegetarian tacos would be the same recipe as the lentil tacos, but it’s all about the delivery and the old saying of know your audience.

Some days my husband might as well be a 4 year old. With his ‘I don’t like that’ (without ever having tried it) and the ‘am I going to like that’ (to which my response is always the same ‘no, of course not…I only feed you stuff you’ll hate’) I begin to wonder why I even bother. That box of Hamburger Helper is going to end up in my cart and on his plate one day. I promise!

I have made vegetarian tacos before, and we both gobbled them up. While that recipe had a hint of the Mexican flavors you look for in a taco, it was still pretty avant garde for a taco. This taco, with its mixture of lentils and winter vegetables tends to be more along the lines of traditional flavors. In fact, with the different textures from the lentils, chard and roasted squash you even feel like you’re eating meat.

While Craig was expecting a dinner that was ‘taco like,’ he was blown away by how authentic these tasted for vegetarian tacos. The next night we rolled the mixture up into burritos. I even took some of the leftovers and made up a taco salad.

Of course, you’re really not going to fool anyone that you’re feeding them meat tacos (the green chard and orange squash squares kind of give it away), but you’ll definitely be able to get them to eat these healthier vegetarian tacos without getting much lip. That’s a win-win in my book.

Maureen, I’m totally with you on the “weird” factor of lentils in a taco. But since they’re commonly found in veggie burgers I thought they’d work great. And they did. I like how filling they are and you can change up the seasoning any way you like. Plus, they’re a great delivery system for a vegetable I’m not very fond of…swiss chard.

Great recipe! I’ve actually been toying with the idea of using lentils in tacos, and you’ve definitely pushed me over the edge. What didn’t occur to me, though, is Swiss chard — and I’ve got a ton of it growing in my garden! I’m so stealing this idea! Really nice — thanks.

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